Darren Fichardt once again flew out of the blocks when he carded a nine-under-par 62 on Thursday in the opening round of the Sunshine Tour’s Stella Artois Players Championship at Dainfern Country Club to grab the first-round lead.

The veteran Fichardt, who opened the Jonsson Workwear Open last month with an eight-under 64, made eight birdies and an eagle, and didn’t drop a shot as he went past the early leader, Tristen Strydom. Strydom signed for a nine-under-par 63, which included a run of five consecutive threes on the front nine, and he would have thought that would be enough for the lead.

In the end, Fichardt made eight threes in his round, including on the par-five 18^th. And the scoring was low as the pros got after the course, with seven players on eight-under-par 64 in a share of third, three on seven-under in a share of 10^th, and seven players on six-under in a share of 12^th.

Fichardt started his round with a birdie on the first and another on the second. Then came a quiet stretch as he made three successive pars, but he followed the lull with four successive birdies on his way to the turn. He birdied the 12^th, and then came three pars in a row once again, and, as on the front nine, he closed in a rush with two birdies and an eagle on the final three holes.

“I’ve played Dainfern a few times in my life,” said Fichardt. “It’s a traditional golf course, which is nice. You don’t have to try and overpower the golf course. It’s more positional play off the tee. I started the round with a good tee shot and almost hit it in the hole with my second shot. I made a birdie there and then a solid birdie on the next hole and that was already a good start. The wind was blowing so my idea was just to hang in there. Then I managed to sneak in a few more birdies and before I knew it I was six under after nine, so that was nice.”

The 47-year-old has 18 Sunshine Tour titles under his belt, the most recent of which came in August 2020 when he took the Betway Championship.